Fire Mission! Fire Mission! A Forward Observer’s Experiences in Vietnam
Our country came before all else.
Fire Mission! Fire Mission! is the fully documented experience of a green artillery forward observer with the First Cav in Vietnam. Along with his topographical map, M-16 and backpack, Lt. Larry Hunter carries an Instamatic camera to preserve his comrades and patrols. Letters from home illuminate his struggle to survive in Vietnam while his wife battles at home to make ends meet financially as a mother. Her faith and prayers to God strengthen and encourage him during days of losing close friends, and again, years later, when his faith is challenged by a new, unseen foe after his exposure to Agent Orange. From jumping out of his first helicopter ride directly into battle, through at least twenty-five combat assaults, and finally an overwhelming ambush on Company A, First Battalion, Twelfth Cavalry on March 31, 1966, for which he is awarded a Bronze Star for heroism, Lt. Larry Hunter documents and describes this new kind of war with no front lines.
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Larry Hunter began his military service as an ROTC cadet in 1961 at Florence State College, now the University of North Alabama. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army, then completed Officer Basic Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During his assignment at Fort Benning, Georgia, he received orders for First Air Cavalry Division, First Battalion, Twenty-First Artillery as a forward observer. Following a year's service in Vietnam, he was an instructor for two years at the US Army Artillery and Missile School at Fort Sill before returning to civilian life. He is retired after thirty years in management in the manufactured housing industry. Stories of his battles in Vietnam have been presented over the years by request from civic clubs, Veterans Day programs, the American Legion, schools and churches. Fire Mission! Fire Mission! is his first published work.